by Matthew Terry
"she called on all her courage to face the ordeal"
strength in the face of pain or grief.
"he fought his illness with great courage"
It's all subjective. It's all a matter of opinion. You can say that a hockey player suffering a cardiac episode, then getting up and wanting to get back into the game is courageous. But definitively, to me, that's wrong. To be courageous is to face a fear. To be courageous is to attempt to conqueur with the knowledge that odds are not in your favour. This man was felled by his heart. He was revived. He was brought back to conciousness. Then he demanded to be allowed back into the game. Despite his fear of dieing on the spot he wanted nothing more then to ... play hockey. Participate in a game that meant very little in the standings of the league. Participate in a game that by the time he "courageously" demanded to return to, was long since postponed by the league. What fear did he face head on? What mountain did he demand to conquer?
Do you remember the jock in school? The guy who was on all the teams. The guy that seemingly could do anything. The guy that when he won the annual awards, you said "Of course he did." That guy was the freaking man. You wanted to be him. You wanted to be looked at like him. You wanted to be revered like him. At least for an hour of a day, if not the full twenty-four hours. Now, picture him telling you "I think I want to be a woman." Doesn't even need to be school. Take the guy that excels in the beer league. Baseball in the summer, hockey in the winter and golf when he can find the time. We all have one. Even if you are one, you hang out with your same ilk. One night, he looks at you and says "I think I'm really a woman." How scared is someone to say that? How scary is it to admit that? How scary is it, knowing that it's not going away. Day after day after day after day ... it's there.
Good on the hockey player who's heart stopped. Day by day he has gotten better and better. The man that is now a woman? His heart stops every morning. Her heart stops when she walks out the front door. Their heart stops every time they look someone in the eye.
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